Its Lacey Cup time again, the grand opener to the Munster racing season. This year again, due to CI rule T5.1.11 there will be a separate A4 race should the entries exceed 140 riders. The A4 Race will be immediately AFTER the A1/A2/A3 race. Total Prize fund is in excess of €1000.

Tralee Manor West iBike's annual race the "Lacey Cup" is a 75km race. The A1/A2/A3 race is run on a handicap basis ( A4 run individually ) and starts from Manor West Hotel, Tralee with a neutralised roll out at 12:10pm.

The race is held on the Dingle Peninsula and takes the riders from the Dingle road outside of Tralee through Blennerville, on to Camp and up Gleann na nGealt for the first Prime, this climb comes after 15km of racing and is 4km long averaging 3% gradient. Once over the top of Gleann na nGealt the race continues to Annascaul where the riders will turn left just outside the village on to Inch and Castlemaine. Then another left turn at Castlemaine and onto the start of the prime at the top of the Slieve Mish climb after 62km for the Teddy Griffin Trophy, the climb is also 4km long and averages 2.8% gradient, before the descent to the finish at Skehanagh just outside the town of Tralee on the N70 (Tralee-Killorglin Road).

The 75km route is one complete loop of a challenging route and tests the strongest of riders with the two climbs and rolling roads from start to finish.

Massive congratulations to club rider Cillian Tierney on a stunning performance in the King of the Hill Tri last weekend. Cillian who finished a very impressive second place just behind Bryan Keane. Cillian has put in some incredible performances all year and second overall in this event with such a strong field and also at his young age is remarkable. Well done from all club members!!

The 'Kanturk 3 Day' annual race held on the May Bank Holiday weekend finished up today in the North Cork town. There was a big attendance of racers over the different groups. Tralee Manor West BC was represented with 5No. riders.

Cian Smailes raced in the U16 category which had 3No. stages. The first stage was a hard 66km route including a tough climb from Freemount to Newmarket which the riders had to negotiate twice, Cian got away in a 3 man break that stayed clear for most of the race before being reeled in just before the finish line A 8km time trial was the second stage held that afternoon too. The 3rd and final stage was held on Sunday with 3 laps of the Kanturk-Ballymaquirke-Kanturk circuit with an uphill finish in the town. Cian finished a very impressive 15th overall in a very strong group of U16 riders. Well done Cian!!

Cian Smailes in action ( Photo : John Coleman )

In the A4 and Ladies category Teresa O'Sullivan represented the club and put in three days great racing. Being consistent all weekend and taking top 20 finishes in each stage, including a 12th place on Sunday meant that Teresa won the Ladies A4 category. Teresa has put in some great racing all season and richly deserved this win!! Congratulations from all members of the club.

Teresa O'Sullivan ( Photo : John Coleman )

In the A2/ A3 category the Tralee Manor West BC riders were Jerry McCarthy, Cormac Daly and Oran Pierse. With 4 stages totalling 270km including a 8km time trial, 3 days of hard racing was endured. All three guys raced very well all weekend. Oran took an excellent 7th place on Stage 3 in Banteer. Jerry was in the mix in each stage, putting in a great TT.

Oran Pierce ( John Coleman ) & Jerry McCarthy ( Brendan Slattery )

Cormac Daly, who has been consistently showing great form over the past few races, opened his account on Stage 1 taking 8th place, 10th on Stage 2 and very strong riding on stages 3 & 4, finishing 9th overall on GC, first A3 rider. Great result from the Kenmare man

With the quality of the field that had signed on, a huge congratulations to Cormac, Jerry and Oran. Well done lads !

Cormac Daly in the break

A special word of thanks to Tony Daly and Riobard Pierse who provided the riders with team car support for the weekend.

Great day's racing at the 50th Drumm Cup today in Currow in perfect conditions, hosted by Currow CC. Tralee Manor West BC were well represented with 8 riders racing.

First off was Cian Smailes in the U16s, who got into a 3 man break which almost stayed clear until the end, finishing in a bunch sprint with Cian taking a 4th place.

In the A4 race Teresa O'Sullivan was just pipped into 2nd Lady home, with Shane O'Brien (making his racing debut) and Mark Ryall finishing very strongly in the main bunch.

In the A3 race, Cormac Daly, Jerry McCarthy & Colm Austen O'Sullivan rode very strongly, with Cormac bridging across to the breakaway group on the third lap. The leaders then extended their lead to 1min 20 secs to remain clear to the finish with Cormac taking 10th place.

Well done to all our riders and thanks to Currow CC for putting on a great race. Big thanks to Tony Daly for driving the team car again today.

206 riders signed on today for the annual Lacey Cup. Torrential rain and strong winds overnight and up until the race commenced was a major concern but thankfully the rain eased off before the race commenced. After the roll-out from our club sponsors and Race Headquarters, Manor West Hotel, the A3 riders were first off from George Poff's garage on the Dingle Road. They wasted no time with plenty of attacks and eventually a four man break was clear at the foot of Gleann na nGealt.

Sean McKenna riding for his new team Aquablue attacked hard from the A1 group overhauling the A2's and eventually catching Simon Tuomey & Robert O'Leary of Giant Cork and Darragh O'Mahony, O'Leary Stone/ Kanturk CC on the first climb. This was to be the break of the day. Sean Lacey and Paidi O'Brien launched an attack with 800mm to the prime but were reeled back in. Sean McKenna took the prime, with Darragh second and Simon third.

The four man breakaway worked very well all day but were only managing a slender 1-2 minute gap throughout the race as attacks were frequent from the chasing groups. As they passed Inch beach they were maintaining a one minute gap, but the pace took its toll on Robert O'Leary and it was down to a three remaining riders. Denis Dunworth was next to attack but Cathal Moynihan was doing an excellent job in marking the attacks as he had a team mate in the break.

A strong tailwind led to a very fast pace from Inch to Castlemaine where the riders turned left and faced the Sliabh Mish climb. Simon Tuomey and Sean McKenna went clear at this point with Darragh loosing contact. Simon took the Teddy Griffin prime and it was going to be down to a two man sprint then. Sean McKenna took the victory by a couple of seconds from Simon. A gallant effort from Darragh O'Mahony earned him a well deserved third place. Killarney man John Brosnan, Moda Kingdom Endurance was next rider to finish after putting in a ferocious attack on the last climb. Paidi O'Brien was 5th leading in the main bunch. In this group also was Siobhan Horgan who rode very strongly and her break from the bike was not evident on todays display where she was the first female rider home.

Club man Oran Pierse of Tralee Manor West BC won the Jackie O'Connor Trophy at Gleann na nGealt with fellow club rider Cillian Tierney putting in a very strong performance finishing in the top 20, great stet for the first year juniors !

In the A4 race Tom Brendan O'Connor of the Tralee Chain Gang CC went on the charge from the gun and built up a convincing lead, taking the A4 Prime at Gleann na nGealt on his solo charge, which he maintained until the foot of Sliabh Mish, where the chasing bunch caught their man. Moments later Conor Kissane, Killarney CC put in a blistering attack and went clear to take the A4 race.

Our thanks to the Gardaí, Red Cross, our race sponsors, George Poff & Halfords, and of course the Manor West Hotel for their hospitability. We would like to also thank all our club members for the excellent stewarding to ensure the race went off without any major incidents. Finally thanks to all the riders who turned up and put in a huge effort on a tough circuit made even tougher today with the strong winds.

Its Lacey Cup time again, the grand opener to the Munster racing season. This year again, due to CI rule T5.1.11 there will be a separate A4 race should the entries exceed 140 riders. The A4 Race will be immediately AFTER the A1/A2/A3 race. Total Prize fund is in excess of €1000.

Tralee Manor West BC's annual race the "Lacey Cup" is a 75km race. The A1/A2/A3 race is run on a handicap basis ( A4 run individually ) and starts from Manor West Hotel, Tralee with a neutralised roll out at 12:10pm.

The race is held on the Dingle Peninsula and takes the riders from the Dingle road outside of Tralee through Blennerville, on to Camp and up Gleann na nGealt for the first Prime, this climb comes after 15km of racing and is 4km long averaging 3% gradient. Once over the top of Gleann na nGealt the race continues to Annascaul where the riders will turn left just outside the village on to Inch and Castlemaine. Then another left turn at Castlemaine and onto the start of the prime at the top of the Slieve Mish climb after 62km for the Teddy Griffin Trophy, the climb is also 4km long and averages 2.8% gradient, before the descent to the finish at Skehanagh just outside the town of Tralee on the N70 (Tralee-Killorglin Road).

The 75km route is one complete loop of a challenging route and tests the strongest of riders with the two climbs and rolling roads from start to finish. Click on link below for race route: